Rotary engine



, .(No Model.)

2 sneetsflshet 1.

W. & L. CARTER.

ROTARY ENGINE.

Patented Mar. 10, 1891.

ATTORNEYS Urvrrnn STATES PATENT @rrren.

lVlLLlS CARTER AND LYMAN CARTER, OF SPOKANE FALLS, \VASIlINGTON.

ROTARY EN GIN E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 448,121, dated March10, 1891.

Application filed June 26, 1890. Serial No. 356,792. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ILLIS CARTER and LYMAN CARTER, both of SpokaneFalls, in the county of Spokane and State of Washington, have invented anew and Improved Rotary Engine,of which the following is a full, clear,and exact description.

Our invention relates to improvements in rotary engines; and the objectof our inven' tion is to produce an engine that may be run at highspeed, that will be evenly balanced, and that will be very durable, andalso to produce an engine in which great power will be generated with asmall amount of steam.

To this end our invention consists in a rotary engine constructedsubstantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

I Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar letters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section of the engine. Fig. 2 is aside elevation of the cylinder and its connections mounted in the case,and with the case in vertical section. Fig. 3 is avertical longitudinalsection of the engine. Fig. 4 is a horizontal longitudinal section ofthe supporting-shaft and the cylinder thereon. Fig. 5 is a detail viewof one of the pistons and the piston-frame connected therewith, and Fig.6 is a plan view of the same.

The case A is composed of two separable members A, said members havingcentrally formed thereon the hubs A which are loosely mounted on theshaft B, and the members A are provided with interlocking shoulders aand are held together by the bolts a, which project through the membersnear their outer circumference. The outer circumference of the members Ais flattened, as shown, so that when the members are united they willform a suitable driving-pulley. The shaft Bis fixed in the boxes 0 ofthe supports 0, and is provided with a central depending crank portion Band with disks B which are formed thereon at the ends of the crankportion B, and which prevent any lateral motion of the case A orcylinder D on the shaft. The shaft B is also provided with central boresB which. enter the shaft on either end, said bores extending into thecrank portion B and terminatin g in ports 13, which open throughopposite sides of the crank portion B, and which are separated by thecentral partition B, so that one of said ports will admit live steam andthe other will form an exhaustexit, as

. hereinafter described.

A compound cylinder D is mounted loosely upon the crank portion B of theshaft B, the two ends of the cylinder extending from opposite sidesthereof, and the cylinder is provided with central annular bosses D,which abut with the disks B of the shaft B, and which are provided withtapering annular grooves D which receive the projecting annularshoulders I) of the disks B a suitable packing cl being inserted betweenthe parts D and b. The cylinder D is made in two sections connected bythe bolts D and plates D are interposed between the sections, saidplates being concaved on their inner edges to fit the crank B and form asteam-tight jointbetween the two sections of the cylinder. The grooves Dfor the packing (Z extend acrossthe plates D.

At each end of the cylinder D there is a piston E, which fits closelytherein and has a suitable packing e, which fits in a groove 6" of thepiston to prevent the escape of steam from the cylinder, the saidpistons having their inner faces rounded to fit the crank portion B ofthe shaft 13, and having outwardlyext'ending portions E, which act asguides for the cylinders and which are connected by transversestrengthening-ribs E The ribs E and the guides E are each fixed tocross-pieces E, which extend across the outer ends of the cylinder D andwhich are united by the side rods E, which are guided upon oppositesides of the cylinder D in the lugs D and which are longer than thecylinder, so as to permit a full stroke of the pistons E. One of thecross-pieces E is held to ashaft F by a clamp E which ineloses the shaftand is securely bolted to the cross-piece. The shaft F is mounted in thecase A in alignment with the pistons E of the cylinder D,and thedistance from the-shaft to the outer end of the nearest cylinder shouldbe such as to permit a full stroke of the piston.

From the foregoing description it will be Patent 'seen that the distancefrom the crank portion B of the shaft B will be less to the bottom ofthe case A than to the top thereof, and consequently when the cylinder Dis inavertical position the lower piston E will nearly touch thecrank-portion 1-3 of the shaft B, and the upper piston E will be in theupper portion of the cylinder D, thus bringing the greater weight ofmetal in the upper part of the case and giving it a tendency to turnfrom the center.

The engine operates as follows: The steam is admitted into one end ofthe shaft B through the central bore B and passes through one of theports B into the cylinder D. If the cylinder D is ina nearly-verticalposition, the steam entering the lower portion of the cylinder willforce the lower piston E downwardly, and as said piston is connectedwith the upper piston and with the shaft F by the side pieces E theupper piston will likewise move downwardly, and as the shaft F is fixedin the case A the case will necessarily revolve. As the case revolvesthe shaft F will be brought nearer to the crank portion B until itreaches the nearest point, which is directly below said crank portion.The position of the pistons will then be reversed and this action willbe constantly repeated. It will be seen that as the cylinder D revolvesthe steam which has entered one end of the cylinder will be broughtopposite the exhaust-port B and will pass out through the bore of theshaft B at the opposite end-of the shaft from which itentered. It willbe seen that the direct steam may be admitted at either end of the shaftB and that when admitted at one end it will exhaust through the otherend.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the steam isapplieddirectly to revolve the case and that there will be but littleloss of power. 7

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters 1. A rotary engine consisting, essentially, of a shaftfixed in suitable supports, having a central crank portion and havingcentral bores extending from each end and opening through opposite sidesof the crank portion, a separable case mounted loosely upon the shaft, atransversely-divided cylinder bolted together at its inner ends andthere mounted loosely upon the crank portion of the shaft, pistonsmovable in opposite ends of the cylinder and connected by a frame, asshown, and a transverse shaft mounted in the case and connected with oneend of the piston-frame, substantially as described.

2. A rotary engine consisting, essentially, of a shaft mounted insuitable supports, having a central crank portion having disks formed ateach end of the crank portion, as shown, and having central boresextending from each end of the shaft and opening through oppositeportions of the crank, a longitudinally-separable case mounted looselyupon the shaft and having a flattened outer surface, as shown,a compoundcylinder mounted upon the crank portionof the shaft, so as to extendfrom opposite sides of the same, pistons movable in the cylinder endsand-connected by a suitable frame, and a shaft mounted in the case andconnected with the piston-frame, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the shaft B, mounted in supports 0, as shown,said shaft having the crank portion B and the disks B formed thereon,and having the central bores B separated by the partition B andterminating in ports B and the separable case A, mounted loosely uponthe shaft,of the cylinder D, mounted loosely upon the crank 13', thepistons E, movable in the cylinder and connected by the cross-pieces Eand side rods E and the shaft F, mounted in the case A and attached toone of the cross-pieces E substantially as described.

4. The combination, with the hollow shaft- B, having the bores B andports B and having the disks B with shoulders I) thereon, of thetransversely-(1ivided cylinder D, mounted upon the shaft, as shown, andprovided with bosses D, having the tapering grooves D which receive theshoulders of the disks, the plates D between the adjacent ends of thecylinder and concave on their inner edges to fit the hollow shaft, andthe bolts D securin g the two cylinder-sections together around theshaft, substantially as described.

\VILLIS CARTER. LYMAN CARTER. lVitnesses:

EDWIN A. RANDALL, J. W. BINKLEY.

